Being in the service is like living in a bubble: you do as you're told, go where you're sent, and live on-base, which has its own restaurants, shops and medical centers.

So one of the scariest things about leaving the military is knowing what to do afterward. Four years in, it's hard to remember what civilian life is like; worse still, you're rusty with the social and professional politics.

To help future former military members get a head start, Plaid created AreYouG2G, a clever little site that helps them construct outside lives based on what they did in uniform.

In defense of the Sears Blue Electronics Crew, we will say real-time price-checking is neat if it works the way it does in the ad, and we dig how research-intensive purchases, like a new TV, are made to look like a rest-easy impulse-buy process.

The slogan is equally brief: "Sears: Life. Well Spent."

These are the parts we like. The parts we don't: it's derivative, as usual; the piece is too long; and we feel like they tossed in Brett Farve because a celebrity face will ensure at least some campaign love. Also, did they even do the price comparison before Farve OK'ed the buy?

Danica deserted for the watch hustle. Just weeks later, GoDaddy's taken to deluging press boxes with potshots of its new It Girl: Erin Kalin.

Unless the company's planning a cruel media deflowering, don't expect many shower videos in the near future. Her premiere video is labeled, "She's Hot, She Sings, She's a Mom!" -- and we wouldn't advise you watch it unless you want to hear honey harp on about her idyllic church upbringing and how it's so neat that she's a singer now, because, gosh, she's just always wanted to be one. And look at the kids! The adorable kids!

In the event that you're deaf, can't see children and have X-ray eyes, GoDaddy takes great care to label the home-grown country shlock under "Warning: GoDaddy-esque content!"

"Schizophrenic Man Terrifies Kids at Party" is a YouTube piece released by English mental health charities Mind and Rethink under their "Time to Change" campaign. We like how it plays on our expectation of crass amateur video fare to illustrate two important messages:

o That people with mental disorders can function in society
o That retaining the stereotype of the off-the-hinge crazy person is counterproductive for everyone involved

It also reminded us that as kids, we were always screamy-scared about stuff we couldn't see, however facile or harmless said "stuff" actually was. And then, lightbulb moment, it was like hey, tripping out about schizophrenia is kind of like that.

"It's funny how new furniture has a way of restoring people. Add something special to your home and experience it firsthand."

Awww. Tent cities have hardly folded up and we're already being hawked side tables. The piece at left comes from "Is it Home Yet?", a campaign/sweepstakes meant to bring gunshy spenders back into furniture showrooms.

The World Market Center Last Vegas, a showroom and exhibition space for the furniture industry, is pushing the effort, with help from collaborators like the National Home Furnishings Association and the Western Home Furnishing Association. In addition to a nationwide multimedia push, it will receive still more attention from widespread celebration of "National Home Furnishings Month" -- September, a traditional (but cozy!) period of change.

Note the ornaments of an industry calibrated for battle: a couch that, according to its materials tag, meets or exceeds "comfort and happiness standards"; and a slogan that appears on a rustic welcome mat. You can also expect to be heavily exposed to soft-touch shots of smiling unbroken families, cushy stuffed couches and other timeless accoutrements of the resilient nuclear unit.

Australia's ANZ Small Business tapped M&C Saatchi to develop an ad both funny and sympathetic to its target demo: small business owners.

That doesn't sound like tons of fun, so we didn't expect it to be, especially when we saw the length of the clip: 1:40? And in sepia? Why not force our eyes open with steel rods, too?

The spot itself starts out innocuously enough: a suited man is walking down the street, somebody calls his name: "Jack!" He starts to run. As the spot progresses, the variety of people -- butchers, mechanics, a Chinese restaurant owner -- that catch sight of him and give chase increases, adding to the dramatic tension and making way for a few semi-amusing stunt scenes. You lazily wonder what the punchline is.

Amidst a campy new jingle and some ass-wiggling with a faux Republican, a reluctant Obama Girl -- recently informed that she's cheated vindictive Death -- is thrown into a wall of knives. The resulting perversion of a quaint Victorian pastime gives her the chance to perform something most actors salivate for: a death scene.

The chill demeanour she maintains, even as life leaks unconvincingly out of her sternum, is a tribute to our casually jaded generation. She even gets a dandy little healthcare message in.

This is supposed to be the more relatable version of its frontiersy-sounding "Go forth" campaign. Hit a point on a rust-coloured US map to watch, oddly enough, mockumentaries of American pastimes.

There's currently only one pinpoint, a video for the "Manhattan Beach Six Man Volleyball Tournament." Composed of co-ed teams playing volleyball in costume, the California (?) based pseudo-event is supported by inspired quotes like "this is the one setting where people can get away with wearing as least as possible."

And of course you have guys dressed like Smurfs. Just think of the whole thing as a less interesting version of ING's Bay to Breakers, populated with characters from The Hills.